SOURCE: Bucsela, John. “The Birth of Russian Syllabo-Tonic Versification.” The Slavic and East European Journal 9, No. 3 (Fall 1965): 281-94.

In following essay, Bucsela describes Trediakovsky's syllabo-tonic system, comparing it to other poetic theories of the time. Although Bucsela emphasizes Trediakovsky's importance in the history of the Russian syllabo-tonic system, he also criticizes Trediakovsky's own verse output.

In 1735 V. K. Trediakovskij wrote Novyj i kratkij sposob k složeniju rossijskix stixov (A New and Brief Method for Composing Russian Verses). With this treatise Russian versification formally embarked upon the syllabo-tonic system. Earlier attempts (by Maxim the Greek, L. Zizanij, and M. Smotrickij) to base Russian versification on the ancient Greek and Latin quantitative system had failed, since the Russian language, lacking distinctions of length in vowels, was unsuited to it. The Polish syllabic scheme also failed to achieve a permanent status because it was artificial for the Russian language, though...